March is when stars are born. It’s when players are asked to step up in crucial moments, when they attempt the improbable and pull off the seemingly impossible. In basketball, the stage doesn’t get any bigger than March Madness.
It feels like we see a few freshmen really break out during the NCAA Tournament every season. Last year was no exception. We watched JuJu Watkins scored 30 points in a Sweet 16 win over Baylor, we saw Hannah Hidalgo stuff the stat sheet in a second round victory over Ole Miss, and we were astonished by Audi Crooks’ record-setting performance – 40 points on 18-of-20 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds – in an unlikely triumph over Maryland.
This March, we have more stellar rookies to pay attention to. Some of them have already put up otherworldly numbers and carried their teams in big moments this season.
As the NCAA Tournament nears and you plan your weekends around college basketball, here are the freshmen that you need to pay attention to in the women’s tournament.
7. Gal Raviv, Quinnipiac
A 5-foot-9 guard from Israel, Raviv is helping Quinnipiac have one of its best seasons ever. The Bobcats are 26-3 this season with a 89.7 win percentage – the second-best mark in program history. Raviv leads all freshmen in women’s college basketball in minutes played per game this season (36.4), a sign that she’s incredibly important to her team’s success. She averages 18 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and 32.5 percent from 3-point land.
Raviv has the ability to score in bunches and Quinnipiac is 12-2 when she has 20 points or more this season. To get into the NCAA Tournament, the Bobcats are going to need to win the MAAC Tournament and likely beat Fairfield for a second time this season. If they can pull that off, a Power 4 team is not going to want to see Quinnipiac and Raviv on the other side of their bracket.
6. Joyce Edwards, South Carolina
The latest prized recruit for Dawn Staley, Edwards has had to play a bit of a bigger role than she may have had to originally due to the season-ending injury to Ashlyn Watkins. She comes off the bench and averages 13.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, but there’s been a few times this season where Edwards has really carried the Gamecocks. She scored more than 20 points in a trio of SEC wins – at Alabama, against Oklahoma in the conference tournament, and at home versus Florida – to help South Carolina notch victories. The 6-foot-3 South Carolina native owns three double-doubles this season.
5. Dani Carnegie, Georgia Tech
The ACC Sixth Player of the Year, Carnegie has injected energy into Nell Fortner’s Yellow Jackets and has them eyeing an NCAA Tournament berth after a two-year absence from the Big Dance. A 5-foot-9 guard from Mount Vernon, New York, Carnegie is averaging 13.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. Carnegie battled an injury earlier this season, but has stepped up when Georgia Tech has needed her. In games where she scores at least 20 points, the Jackets are 6-0, which includes a win at then-ranked No. 14 North Carolina.
4. Syla Swords, Michigan
Swords announced herself as a must-watch player in her collegiate debut when she piled up 27 points and 12 rebounds in a neutral-site clash against South Carolina in which her Wolverines nearly pulled off an upset. On Jan. 1, she reintroduced herself to the national spotlight by pouring in 30 points in a loss to No. 1 UCLA. Simply put, Swords is an electric player with the ability to score in bunches and always seems to play her best against top-tier opponents. Opposing coaches in the NCAA Tournament are not going to enjoy gameplanning for her.
3. Toby Fournier, Duke
The ACC Rookie of the Year, Fournier was garnering attention before she arrived at Duke for her leaping skills and ability to dunk. She hasn’t done that in a game yet, but she’s helped Duke win in a bunch of other ways as a spark off the bench. Fournier has a knack for rebounding, a soft touch around the rim and an unwillingness to back down. Duke is 12-1 this season when Fournier scores at least 15 points, and she’s 13th nationally in scoring points per 40 minutes.
2. Sarah Strong, UConn
Strong was the nation’s top recruit in the 2024 class and she hasn’t disappointed. While the 6-foot-2 forward from North Carolina can be soft spoken, her game is anything but that. She’s skilled, versatile and efficient, and the numbers back that up. Strong averages 16 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game this season. She’s first nationally in defensive rating (64.9), first in win shares (7.7), and second in PER (42.0). Ashley Sofilkanich of Bucknell is the only other player in the country this season who averages at least 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor. Simply put, Strong has all the makings of being the next great UConn player.
1. Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
Blakes is absolutely box office. She led all freshmen in scoring and was sixth nationally with 23.2 points per game. She set the scoring record for a freshman in NCAA Division I women’s basketball earlier this season by pouring in 55 points in a victory at Auburn, breaking a mark previously held by Elena Delle Donne. That, remarkably, was the second time this season that Blakes passed the 50-point mark, as she scored 53 in a win at Florida. Since 2009, there have been 19 players to score at least 50 points in a single game, but Blakes is the only one to do it twice as a freshman. And none of those other 18 players ever had 50 in an NCAA Tournament game. It’s worth watching to see if Blake can rewrite another record in March.
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